Bhubaneswar: External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Saturday assured the Odisha government that the Centre would "seriously" take up the murder of an Odia student at Boston with US officials.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who strongly condemned the killing of 24-year-old K Seshadri Rao in US on Thursday night, this evening spoke to Krishna who was at Madrid in Spain.

Expressing his anguish over the incident, Patnaik also spoke to the Indian Ambassador in Washington Nirupama Rao about the murder of the student.

"Both of them assured the chief minister that they are on the job seriously," a release issued by the Chief Minister`s Office said.

Quoting Rao, the release said that an officer of the Indian Consulate in New York has been sent to Boston.

"The Indian Consulate has taken charge of the body and it will be sent to India shortly," it said.

Stating that investigation was on into the murder of the youth, Ambassador Nirupama Rao assured Patnaik that they would be following up the matter with the authorities concerned.

Patnaik had demanded appropriate punishment for the culprits involved in the killing of the student, who was pursuing an MBA degree in mathematical finance (treasury management) at Boston University School of Management.

Seshadri was shot by an unidentified assailant at Aliston Street on Thursday night.

Family sources said the 24-year-old youth was scheduled
to complete the 18-month-long course next month and was offered a three-month paid internship in a company here.

His father K Sudhakar Rao, an employee of a bank at Jeypore in Koraput district, was informed by officials of the External Affairs Ministry about the tragic incident.